Used Oil Can Be Recycled

If you notice, used oil is actually collected by many repairers and then sold to collectors. 

No wonder it was done, because even though it has been used it can still be utilized.

One of them is as base oil or base oil from the manufacture of new lubricants.

As quoted from GridOto.com, Dr. Ing Ir. Tri Yuswidjajanto, a combustion engine expert at ITB, said that through a series of processes, used oil can be refined. 

"You can, but the viscosity quality is below that of a completely new base oil," he said. 

This purification process is done by distillation where impurities, water or other particles are burned at a certain temperature. 

"Water, for example, contained in used oil will evaporate at 100 degrees Celsius," he said.

The next process, hydrofinishing (HDF).

"Simply put, all contents other than base oil consisting of additives and grams are removed," said Tri Yus.

However, the base oil resulting from the process of used oil has disadvantages.

Recycled base oil and virgin base oil (VBO) or base oil from the earth differ in hydrocarbon chain length (HC).

"The recycled one is shorter in HC than the VBO," he said.

The effect of a short HC is that its boiling point is lower, so it will vaporize more easily.

Hence, usually oils that use recycled base oils have higher viscosity numbers than VBO.

"However, consumers do not need to worry. Because, the recycled base oil in a lubricant is also not large," he said.

Generally, recycled base oil is blended with VBO to achieve the required specifications.

"The percentage is about 70:30. Recycled base oil is only 30 percent. So, the quality produced by recycled lubricants is still safe to use," said the lecturer based at Jl. Ganesha, No. 10, Bandung.